Standing there in our dripping raincoats and boots, we thought we had wandered into Shangri-la. The air was sweet, and here and there stood clumps of delicate saplings with pastel flowers. The tags on their trunks showed photographs of delights to come: Moro oranges with blood-red centers, chubby pink grapefruits and dainty Key limes.
When a nursery worker politely asked us (for the third time) if he could squeeze by us with his cart of hostas, we snapped out of our reverie and chose a pretty little lemon—a dwarf Eureka.
Choosing Citrus Trees
Citrus trees—subtropical, evergreen, and fruitful—flourish from California to Florida. Growing them successfully is largely a matter of choosing a variety that thrives in your climate.
The first factor to consider is hardiness. Some varieties can't take frost at all: it can make them drop all their fruit and lose their leaves. Mexican limes, for example, suffer if temperatures drop below 28 degrees, whereas Improved Meyer lemons can tolerate cold to 20 degrees. Do some sleuthing: specialty catalogs are a good place to start, and your agricultural extension services can be a great resource.
Size matters, too. Dwarf trees offer the same-sized fruit as their orchard-sized relatives, but they take up a lot less space in tiny urban yards. (They vary from 4 to 10 feet in height when full grown, depending on type.) They're also easier to prune and harvest. And because these smaller trees do well in containers on patios or by sunny windows, you can decorate and landscape with them.
But taste is the clincher. Lemons range from very tart to almost orangey sweet. Pick a variety that will complement your cooking and please your palate. The Eureka we chose has a tangy, tart taste and will be great for zesting.
Nurseries have the best selection in early spring, when gardeners are itching to get their hands dirty. But be discerning: What's the overall appearance of the citrus aisle? Are the trees well tended and healthy? Do you see any broken branches? Are the trees dried-out in their pots or—just as bad—standing in water? Any with yellowing leaves and dark green veins? Avoid trees with these symptoms of chlorosis—a condition that indicates overwatering or nutrient deficiency. Raising a healthy tree starts with choosing well.
Into the Ground
Early spring, after all danger of frost has passed, is a good time of year to plant citrus. In our mild Northern California climate, we can plant any time of the year—except when the ground is sodden or it's too hot (mid 80s and above). But for most areas, avoid planting trees in the summer—the heat's too much for them.
Before you plant, give some thought to location. Pick a sunny, wind-free spot. In cooler climates, planting in front of a south-facing wall or fence will buy you a bit more warmth. In desert climates, place your citrus where it will be lightly shaded during the hottest part of the day. Lastly, give it room to grow to full size.
Dig a hole as deep as the tree's rootball and twice as wide. But if your soil drains poorly, increase those dimensions by 50 percent because you'll want to amend the soil to improve drainage. Citrus trees prefer soil that's rich in humus—dark material left over from decomposing plant or animal matter—and they like it to be slightly acid. If soil doesn't drain well, however, the trees' leaves droop and turn yellow. To test your soil's drainage, fill the hole with water, let it drain overnight and then fill it again the next day. If the water level drops less than two inches in two hours, even an enlarged hole won't help. Plant the tree in a raised garden bed.
Before you go any further, mix the soil from the hole with an equal amount of planting mix, so it will be ready when you put the tree in the ground.
To remove the tree from its pot, lay it down and apply gentle pressure to the side of the container as you roll it on the ground. If the tree won't slide out easily, free it by cutting down the sides of the plastic container (use tin snips if it's metal) and peeling the pieces away from the rootball. Examine the roots and cut off any broken ones. Straighten any that circle the rootball.
Place the tree so that it sits high in the hole—an inch or so above the surrounding soil—to prevent water pooling at the base. It's OK to expose the uppermost roots. Shovel your mixture of planting mix and soil in around the rootball, tamping it down often to eliminate air pockets. Slope the soil away from the trunk, and make a "watering ring" around the outer perimeter of the hole.
Sink a wooden stake firmly into the ground next to your tree. Be careful not to dislodge your sapling or damage its cambium layer, the area just under the bark that generates new cells and drives the tree's growth. Thread lengths of old garden hose onto heavy wire to make a couple of durable ties that won't cut into the trunk. Loop them around the tree—not too tightly—and fasten them to your stake.
Water well to help the soil settle. It's a good idea to put down a 2- to 3-inch layer of fir-bark mulch to conserve moisture in the soil between waterings. If you mulch, leave a 6-inch circle of bare soil around the base of the tree.
Caring for Citrus
While the tree establishes itself and grows strong roots, don't overwater. Soil should be moist but not soggy, so keep an eye on drainage. Ideally, water the tree thoroughly once or twice a week. If you're using drip emitters, adjust watering time and frequency according to the weather. But avoid spray emitters: they'll repeatedly soak the trunk, and that can encourage diseases, cankers and fungal ailments.
Citrus trees are heavy feeders, and their leaves will turn yellow if you skimp on fertilizer. Throughout the year, give them a balanced chelated fertilizer (one with essential micronutrients as well as equal amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium). Trees can absorb nutrients through their leaves as well as through their roots, so liquid fertilizer can be sprayed onto leaves for foliar feeding. Avoid doing this during the heat of the day, though—you'll burn the leaves.
Most popular citrus varieties are easy to maintain and have been bred to resist pests, but snails, ants, scale, mites, thrips and whiteflies keep trying anyhow. To keep crawling insects away, wrap sticky barriers such as Tanglefoot on the trunk; copper trunk bands will help keep snails at bay (as long as you keep the copper bright). Periodically blasting both sides of the leaves with a garden hose will also disrupt insect commerce. Finally, if fruit twists into Picasso-esque shapes, you have citrus bud mites; control them with dormant oil sprays.
While citrus trees don't need much in the way of pruning, you'll need to find the graft point of your tree and watch for nonfruiting branches called suckers that may grow beneath it. Unchecked, suckers can overwhelm a tree, distorting and starving it.
Citrus can easily be trained as hedges or espaliers (flat planes against walls or trellises). The lower branches tend to yield the heaviest, so don't overdo it. And lastly, as the trunk grows thicker, keep an eye on the ties securing it to the stake: if they become too tight, they can damage the trunk.
Common sense and a little TLC will keep your citrus happy. During sustained hot spells, water at dawn and dusk. Remember that too much strong heat can be as harmful as frost.
If a cold night looms, drape frost-sensitive varieties with polyester frost blankets. Christmas lights will offer a small measure of protection, too. If frost does nip your tree, it can probably recover if you've kept it well watered and healthy. If your tree drops its leaves because of frost, be patient and watch for green tips to sprout. Then prune it back a little to encourage new growth.
Depending on the age of your tree when you plant it, you should have fruit within a year or two. Got more than you can use? Squeeze the juice and freeze it in ice cube trays. Or share the bounty with neighbors, friends and local food banks.
Jennifer Kinion, who has studied horticulture at City College of San Francisco, is a writer and editor for CornerHardware.com.
Standing there in our dripping raincoats and boots, we thought we had wandered into Shangri-la. The air was sweet, and here and there stood clumps of delicate saplings with pastel flowers. The tags on their trunks showed photographs of delights to come: Moro oranges with blood-red centers, chubby pink grapefruits and dainty Key limes.
Caring for Citrus
